Among elite colleges, competition for those kids with perfect scores and perfect grades can be intense. Many schools have responded by building boutique sub-schools around their core strengths. Take Penn, for example. In 2005, then-President Amy Gutmann called for “integrating knowledge . . . to take Penn from excellence to eminence and to equip the University with the resources it needs to tackle some of the most complex and urgent questions facing the world today.” The results of this Penn Compact 2020 initiative include Penn Engineering’s Integrated Studies Programs. While these programs reside on campus and matriculate typical college freshmen, in style they look a lot more like applied science graduate programs than typical undergrad majors. The programs tend to be tightly focused on specific real-world challenges, resulting in some different admissions criteria.

Admission Criteria: An Overview

While Penn only admits nine to ten percent of its 39,000 applicants, these niche programs may see fewer than 500 applicants and may admit a quarter of them. The academic requirements of these programs are so specific that the university admissions departments have to rely heavily on the advice of the program directors. At Penn, when students indicate an intended major in NETS, DMD, or CMPE, Amy Calhoun, Director of the Integrated Studies Programs, reviews and comments on the application. A veteran of Penn Admissions, Calhoun moved over to DMD because of her interest in art and engineering and the humanities focus in the program, was later asked to work with NETS and CMPE. She recalls, “I found out how much I had to learn and how remarkable these majors were.” Calhoun works closely with Ellen Eckert, the Associate Director for Undergraduate Admissions and Advising for Engineering, when evaluating the candidates.

Admissions to Integrated Studies Programs: The Steps

• While there is no quota for any of these “niche” majors, Penn generally accepts about 20 DMD, 15 NETS and 20+ CMPE students. In 2015-16, there were roughly 550 applicants for approximately 55 spots. Of that amount, 200 applied to CMPE, which Calhoun believes is “the hardest major at Penn.”

• Penn Admissions reviews each application and forwards the essays and portfolios of prospects to Calhoun.

• After Calhoun and the faculty review portfolios and read essays, they make recommendations to Admissions.

• Penn Admissions notifies students of its decisions (accept or defer for Early Decision; accept, deny, or wait-list for Regular Decision).

• Students who do not get into a program like NETS or DMD may still admitted to Penn. “It wouldn’t make sense to ask a student to apply to a small, highly selective program if it decreased their chances of admission; no one would apply,” explains Calhoun. “So to ensure that we do not decrease their chances, these programs allow students to be considered for a more general major, say computer science or fine arts for DMD, thereby giving them two turns at bat.”

It’s All About The Match

For the applicant, the strong match is more important than having a transcript full of AP, honors or IB courses. “I’ve been involved with some portion of admissions for years,” states Calhoun, “first as a Penn admissions officer, then when I worked with the Benjamin Franklin and University Scholars programs, then in Engineering. In each of these roles I’ve found that admissions decisions are most easily made when we can focus on the match between the student and a major or program at Penn. When a student is perfectly suited for a major we don’t need to rely as much on data.”

For that reason, Integrated Studies tracks demonstratedinterest, which most elite college admissions officers assert is not a significant factor in their decisions. Measures of demonstrated interest include visits to Penn, conversations with Integrated Programs faculty staff and students, and a solid understanding of the major. Calhoun explains, “The vast majority of the students applying to Penn are academically qualified to succeed here, but space is limited. Using the applicant’s interest in a specific program is not only an efficient way to review applicants, but it allows us to look beyond rank and SATs and focus on what an applicant has already done to investigate his or her area of interest. As a result, matriculation rates tend to be higher because we are admitting students best suited to the programs.”

Evaluating The Applicants: Niche Program Criteria Ranked

Ranking

Item

Extremely Important

Supplemental essay

Demonstrated interest**

Academic background

Admissibility to parent institution

Very Important

Rigor, Academic GPA

Somewhat Important

Standardized test scores

Recommendations

Experience with some aspect of the major

Considered

Common App Personal Essay

Character

**Applying Early Decision is only important if candidate meets the other criteria.

A top prospect for the program in 2015-16 was Tommy Kumpf of Belle Mead, NJ, admitted Early Decision to Penn’s Class of 2020 and also to NETS. States Kumpf, “The smaller size in program would allow me to get to know my classmates better than if I were in a larger program. I wanted as much faculty access as possible. Ideally, I'd be able to go to my professors whenever I needed help, and they would always be available. I realize that goal is unrealistic, but available faculty was still a priority for me. After I visited the University of Pennsylvania, I knew I had found my school. That being said, I was prepared to visit as many colleges as necessary until I found one I fell in love with.”

Looking back at Kumpf’s candidacy, Calhoun notes, “In Tommy’s case, he had done extensive research on the NETS program. Because he was geographically close to Penn, he visited on multiple occasions, met with four NETS faculty members as well as other faculty and staff in computer science, and he visited classes with NETS students. His application showed that he understood exactly what the program was about, and it matched his interests in internet security and cryptography perfectly. This ideal match of skills and interest is precisely what we are looking for in a NETS applicant, or any applicant to a very specific major or program.”

Implications For The Application

Warning: applicants can’t fake it. Their interest in the field has to be real and their interest in the college has to be genuine. Accordingly, it is advantageous for applicants to engage with the people on the other side. All too often, applicants put substantial effort into the Common App Personal Essay but not enough into their supplemental essays. Since there is often less space to convey their intentions on the supplements, students must carefully edit their responses to reflect their interests in targeted or niche programs. Applicants should write those essays, if possible, when a visit is fresh in their minds and make sure that their work is not only thoroughly fact-checked and proofread but also shows their passion for the major and the target institution.

The Future Of Elite

In an era when “undecided” majors are figuring out what they want from their college experience, this small coterie of highly focused students and faculty is well on its way. Explains Amy Calhoun, “Students help us to decide what they need to learn. Their experiences, from internships and industry, as well as through research, help us to keep our courses up to date. Penn also seeks input from industry partners; we work with prospective employers, and we seek feedback from those who employ our students.”

Like Penn, other elite universities will continue to build on academic areas in which they are particularly strong. At Brown, students interested in forming their own ventures can matriculate in the new C.V. Starr Program in Business, Entrepreneurship and Organizations. Cornell has combined its School of Hotel Administration, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and Johnson Graduate School of Management in a new College of Business. And while Ivies may be foes on the playing field, expect cooperation to continue and expand in the years ahead. According to Calhoun, “We work together on how we make admissions decisions and compare different methods and ideas . . . and on the days that we release admissions decisions. We also refer students to each other’s schools or program. I recommend similar programs at several Ivies for students looking at DMD, for example. I have also offered help and advice to peers building similar programs at other schools. Generally, I think we are colleagues more often that we are competitors, and once you leave the athletics and admissions domain, we are colleagues.”

Still, the liberal arts mission will not be forgotten. DMD students must take nine classes in Fine Arts and Communications, with additional options in Cinema Studies, Education, Music, Marketing and Theater Arts. (Calhoun notes that DMD students have among the best writing scores on standardized tests and are great with analogies.) NETS and CMPE students also round out their majors with social science and humanities electives, including economics for NETS.

Zachary Ives, faculty director of the NETS program, notes, "It has been a remarkable opportunity for us to create a unique, cutting-edge major, which utilizes the cross-disciplinary talent we have at Penn within Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Economics, and Mathematics. The traditional approach to developing undergraduate majors has been to be all things for all people. Instead, we've built a program that we hope will be the perfect major for a select few who have a passion for using engineering and technology to change the world. We could never have achieved this without the amazing support of Penn Admissions and Dean Eric Furda, and it has been a pleasure to watch NETS grow from an idea on the drawing board to a thriving major with a passionate group of students.”